We made it...

To the end of the alphabet! We actually finished at the end of April and then waited for the second Tuesday in May so we could get into the Portland Zoo for only $2 a person! It ended up being a busy day and the Zoo does not have enough parking. So to the great excitement of most the small men (Leroy didn't approve at first but recovered quickly) we had to park a few miles from the Zoo and ride in on a school bus they provide for such occasions.

We were very blessed to get quite a bit of animal action for the day! The sea lions were swimming around and playing by the glass, versus the usual blob sunning it's self on the rock.

The polar bear was scratching an itch on the log.

The elephants were the best, we got into the elephant house and there was only one male elephant not doing much so most people left. The boys were all lined up at the window when a keeper came in with a arm load of hay and a half a honeydew melon. He made the elephant back up and then lay down on command.

then sit up,

and a bow and then he got his melon. Not exactly your typical wild elephant but it was fun to watch such a big animal do those things.

The rest of his cohorts outside were busy too, the year old baby elephant was actually playing in the pool, sitting in the water and then falling over with a splash. That scene is firmly ingrained in Leroy's mind and we hear about it most mornings first thing when he wakes up, "the elapent, plashing in da wader".

Watching the elephants.

Mathew got to come along with Aunt Susie and the boys had a blast together.

The lions weren't too exciting this day, mostly sleeping.

Painted dogs

Hippos,
we're beginning to think they might be statues this is the almost identical position they were in last time we visited a year ago ;)

"Zeba-ra" (Leroy's pronunciation)

The one giraffe was indoors, not sure what happened to the rest of them there used to be at least 4.

The Alligator, I think,
tho' it could be the crocodile. I can't remember how to tell them apart and they were in the same encloser but separated with a natural rock wall.

A funny deer and ducks

Aunt Susie and the three little men.

The chimps were very active, eating broccoli (which impressed Phi) and pushing hay around the cage.

And last of all were the penguins, we couldn't find any at first and then some came swimming in and this little guy posed nicely for us before swimming off again.

Then it was back to the school bus to find our cars and head home for late naps and meeting night. :D It was definitely worth the $12 dollars it cost for all of us to get in (Gramma came too) since that is the average cost per adult on normal days.


So we are trying to decide when to start working on numbers now. I haven't decided whether to continue with the week per letter/number or how to work this. We've been playing Hide and Go Seek so that Phi works on counting from 1 to 10 so it will just be number recognition and amounts that we work on. June and July are very busy months for us so might wait for a bit of that to pass first before jumping in to this next phase. Thanks for reading and encouraging us along!

Week S

We have been taking it a little slower the last two weeks and sort of meandering through S and T. The week of S we found out this in the basement:

The tile shower was never sealed properly so the entire frame and walls surrounding are rotted out. Blah, so that's our newest project. But, we did do and see some S things that week.

Mr Squirrel who is a regular visitor to our back yard,

And our roof top.

It also was Grandpa and Mr. Tech's birthday so we got to go to The Outback Steakhouse for birthdays. Phi got his own Steak since we got free kids meals for any adult entree. Phi loves his Steak and actually ate this entire thing...of course it could also be that it's the A1 sauce that he's addicted to, I'm not sure. :)

Sillyness..

in Suits,

for a Sertain wedding.. ;P
(we found them all on sale at the Burlington Factory Store. Yahoo!)

Aunt Susie was a great S person.

For some silly times as well.

The weather was once again helpful as we had Sunshine!

For a few days anyway, on one of them we headed out on a walk,

Where we Saw Some S's.

And some Spring time!!!

And raided a Squirrels hidy hole.

Incidentally, the Mr. and Chatty came down that weekend and we went up to Timberline for some Snowboarding! We haven't been in 3 yrs, me since our honeymoon and Mr . Tech since just before Phi was born. It was a blast and the weather was perfect!! Phi didn't get to go along but he did get to see the Snowboards and pictures of the Snow.

Our beautiful day.

And we got some Seeds to play with. It amazes me how long these will entertain them for.

It does require a good sweep of the kitchen once they are done as the seeds tend to bounce around on our counter. But the entertainment it affords is worth it.

Our verse was: Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord... Exodus 14:13

Animals: Seals, Sea lions, Seagulls.

Songs: "Safe am I", and "Salvation is a big word".

Bible stories: Saul whose name was changed to Paul. And Phi became fascinated with Solomon and wanted to read about him every day.

So that was a little of our S week See ya next Time. :)

Week Rrrrrr..

So it was actually two weeks ago we encountered this letter in R trek along the alphabet. At that point the house looked something like this, therefore so did my mind, but we still managed to get R into our lives.

The weather helped, it Rained most the week

So we Ran in the Rain. (which happened to be after dark, sorry.)

We made Rice.

In our Rice cooker.

We saw a River.

And found R's wherever we could. This one's from the Old Spaghetti Factory where we went to find...

Salad, not really that just came with their meal. The waitress offered salad or applesauce for them and when I said salad she looked very skeptical, which is understandable. For whatever reason these little men love salad, don't ask me why.

So the Real Reason for coming here was Ravioli.

It was spinach and cheese but he actually liked it.

We wanted to Ride bikes. (but it Rained)

We had Raisins, Rice Krispies, and Rice.

We read about Ruth. Which Phi enjoyed very much and kept wanting to read more once we'd finished the book.

Our verse was: Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Eccl. 12:1

We found a very cool rooster crow on youtube. Also checked out Rattlesnake and Rat.

We Rocked in our Rocking Chair.

Played with our Race Cars, and Rocks.

Drove on the Road.

Played with Grandpa's Rope.

Phi thought it was cool that it was A. Ruth's letter. He also enjoyed writing it since it's so close to his P. I told him to make a P and then give it a leg in the front so it could walk. :)

So we Ran through week R and Slid in to week S.

Week Q

So Q has been Quite the week! I was having another mind blank. And walking around the house thinking about every thing that ought to get done wasn't helping. So lots of stuff that wouldn't just do it's self got done. Mid week we thought of Queen so we read about Queen Esther. We having a whopping three pictures of the week to make up for last weeks picture post.
We did make Quasadillas, which I'm possative start with a Q but spell check says it's spelled wrong and is offering such words as Quasilinear, Quadrille, and Quadrilaterals. Humph.
So this is our chicken, ranch, Bar BQ and cheese Quasadilla.

And we also had Quiche

With a Q in ketchup, if you use your imagination. Neither of these help the Q sound out too well but that's just how our crazy Minglish goes.

We already had the issue with J and G. It should correctly be Jerbils and Jiraffes and Quiche ought to be something like Keesh not to mention the unnecessary letters K and S. C takes over their jobs nicely City, Cidney. Only I s'pose it could get confusing sort of like our word read, "Did you read that story or have you already read it?" We'd also never no which no we were talking about and knights would be history. OK enough, but it brings to mind a funny memory of my littlest brother at about the age of 4 or 5 trying to sound out and spell the word M n M's. LOL it came out something like, Emanems. :D

For our verse we did,
Behold, I come Quickly... Rev. 22:7 or 3:11

Also colored a Quail picture thanks to Gramma Jo.

We belatedly thought of Q-tips (thank you Lily) and wanted to do some thing with them besides clean our ears, noses etc. but haven't gotten there yet.

We did have a Moving sale (no the house hasn't sold but it's all about getting it ready) so had lots of Quarters.

Week R has a few more possibilities in the activity section. Hey, we should get you to come visit (soon-to-be) Aunt Ruth! It's been hard to have U. AJ being so Ruthless. :P

P.S. this is what happens when you sit down and write a post too late at nite. To bed we go.